Gravel, yes. Road, no: Van der Poel aims for the World Championships in the Netherlands

Mathieu van der Poel has decided not to compete in the Road Cycling World Championship, which this year takes place at the end of September in Rwanda. Instead, the Dutchman will focus first on mountain biking and, presumably, on the Gravel World Championship. Although his presence has not been officially confirmed yet, several media outlets in the Netherlands already assume that MVDP will defend his rainbow jersey on October 6 in Zuid-Limburg.

Van der Poel will skip the Road World Championship, but aims for the gravel World Championship as defending champion

The reasons behind this certainty are evident: Van der Poel is the current gravel world champion, the event takes place in his own country, and he has ruled out the Road World Championship. All signs point to him getting back on the gravel bike after his participation in the MTB World Championship in Crans-Montana, where he also plans to compete after the XCO World Cup in Les Gets next week.

This Wednesday, Van der Poel returns to the Renewi Tour, his first race since withdrawing from the Tour de France due to pneumonia. In statements to Algemeen Dagblad, the leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck admitted that he still feels discomfort and that his participation aims to accumulate competition rhythm before facing the MTB season. "I want to see if the pneumonia no longer affects me in the race," he explained.

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After his stint in mountain biking, everything points to Van der Poel trying to defend his rainbow jersey in gravel.

The Gravel World Championship will take place in the Zuid-Limburg region, a terrain that Van der Poel knows well, and after winning the title in 2024, everything indicates that he will try to defend it in front of his fans.

As is customary in his season, nothing is completely set in stone in the Dutchman's calendar, but the pieces fit: no Road World Championship, with MTB as a previous step, and with the gravel title at stake in the Netherlands, everything points to Van der Poel going all out once again.